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Peter Hook reflects on Ian Curtis’ death

Bassist Hook was in iconic indie band Joy Division with his late friend Ian and he is now not shocked that the singer killed himself at the age of just 23 in 1980 because the treatment he was offered for his epilepsy and depression at the time was "almost barbaric".

In an interview with NME, Hook said: "When you start looking at the burdens he was carrying back then, it’s no wonder that they dragged him down. Back then the treatment for epilepsy was almost barbaric.

"The tablets he was taking were analysed in 2014 by modern day experts and they said that they were guaranteed to kill him."

The former New Order member has now dedicated his time to spreading awareness of mental health issues in men – suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 40 – and Hook currently works with a charity called CALM who spread awareness of the subject and encourage men to speak out.

Speaking about his charity work, the 62-year-old musician said: "The treatment has changed and society has changed, I do feel that people are more empathetic and open to education in those things. We’re looking at mental health in a positive way now so that people don’t have to go through what he went through. A bunch of idiots like us can even be educated. We were unaware of what Ian was going through. That, as an old bloke, is the most shocking aspect of it – how unprepared and uneducated we as his friends were. Any education and any communication about things like this towards avoiding what happened to Ian is the most important thing. The hardest thing in the world is knowing what people are going through. I’m an alcoholic and a drug addict, and coming to terms with something like that helps you understand it more."